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Yes, people do get weird about the word retirement. I can understand where they're coming from, as it does conjure up images of sitting around and doing nothing all day. I do prefer the term "financially independent". But I don't get all worked up over the terminology like some people do.
It's just something I noticed is a trigger word for a lot of people. We happen to live in a culture where work-work-work-work-busy-busy-busy is the acceptable norm for those under 60.
When I used to work down in Antarctica as a contractor, in between my 6-7 month contracts, I would volunteer and/or travel the world on holiday and just tell people I was "seasonally retired"!
Contracting is a different beast. It implies shorter term gigs of less than 2 years (although some people contract at the same company for longer). But taking time in between a contract raises no eyebrows because by it's very definition contracts generally have a beginning, middle, and end.
Agree. It's quite hilarious, really, and of course it all really stems from jealousy. Nobody wants to believe that somebody else can have or do what they can't, and because somebody else planned better or knows how to be happy with less than whatever their preconceived notions of "enough" might be. I could easily retire right now with $500k if I wanted to (assuming I had it, which I don't, but will in a few more years).It's funny how little you really need to live on and be happy if you learn about and focus on the true drivers of human happiness and forget about the things that the consumer driven culture and friends and family and neighbors who've been indoctrinated into it will TELL you you need to be happy. If you have a paid off house in a low tax area you can easily subsist on no more than a couple grand a month while living a fulfilling life. That's only $24k per year or less. That assumes a paid off car, no other debt, reasonable food costs, and cheap hobbies (hiking? running? kayaking?).
Maybe you enjoy growing your own food, thus helping to offset your food costs even more. Maybe you like to travel, but that means visiting friends or family who live in fun places to visit (no hotel costs). Or maybe it's to countries where the US dollar (or Canadian dollar) goes a long way. Retirement doesn't mean living in a high COL area necessarily or paying high yearly fees for a golf membership for most people. It's doesn't mean doing nothing but sitting on your butt watching CNN either for many. It COULD mean engaging in a favorite hobby making things that people want to buy and maybe you want to sell it to them at the weekend flea market and happen to make some extra cash on the side. Or maybe it's monetizing a blog that you write about something that you love. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to live. Most of those ways don't have to be very expensive at all.
Yes, you really got at the essence of it, especially the bolded.
I just recently hit 500k (well that was Friday; markets are down today ). I could definitely retire on it if I moved outside my high cost area.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 09-24-2018 at 12:27 PM..
Nobody wants to believe that somebody else can have or do what they can't, and because somebody else planned better or knows how to be happy with less than whatever their preconceived notions of "enough" might be.
Or even the matter that a lot of people never think of constructing a different way of living and trying it out. The very idea that someone would do something like that is unsettling for some. It shakes them up inside and brings the "am I happy with my life" to the fore, and if no, "what am I going to do about it?" and that's uncomfortable.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by homelessinseattle
Homestead exemption.
This is ONLY applicable to a personal residence (in a few USA states), (which is not a 'tax-advantaged-investment') not applicable to income properties. No need to waste your time and $ on a personal residence if you are on the road all yr.
"Homestead exemption" in Seattle? or anywhere else? I would LOVE to have some 'relief' on my $14,000+/ yr WA Property tax bill, but... that is NOT 'tax advantaged' (as in significantly reducing my annual tax obligations)
These folks are from Canada, I trust they know 'Tax Advantaged'
In USA...
depreciation of income props is a HUGE tax advantage, as well as 100% interest write-off, vs marginal rate write offs on home mortgages (5-28%) Ask DJT.
Sorry, but I do NOT see the 'tax advantaged' referral to owning income RE in your area (of which this couple does not have a specified 'area' to call home).
And related to the other part of the thread topic, the idea of deciding to "ditch home ownership" at age 30 (or really any age), doesn't trigger people all that much. Someone might be doing some longer term traveling or it might coincidentally be a good time to sell in a hot market. It doesn't mean they'll never ever again own property in their life.
I agree but I think the key phrase is "as much". The woman writer of the blog talks about how they have over $1M, but her traditional Chinese parents freak out because she doesn't own a house. She said she didn't talk to her family for a year because of it; although it sounds like they patched things up since then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lottamoxie
No, it's the idea that someone young (like a 30 yr old) is not allowed to get off the hamster wheel they're on, certainly not at that age or any age before society deems it acceptable. It threatens others when they hear or read about it. How dare they, tsk tsk.
Yes, absolutely. The thing about the matrix of control is that we have an elite that doesn't actually have to keep people in line. Once they program our thinking, we enforce a very limited worldview on each other.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 09-24-2018 at 12:43 PM..
It's just something I noticed is a trigger word for a lot of people. We happen to live in a culture where work-work-work-work-busy-busy-busy is the acceptable norm for those under 60.
Yes, I do agree it's a trigger word.
I also agree our culture is messed up when it comes to being constantly busy. It's often not a very purposeful kind of busy.
traditional Chinese parents freak out because she doesn't own a house.
Property ownership is *very important* to the Chinese. I'm not saying it's not also important to lots of people of different cultures, but to traditional Chinese, it's a big deal because they see it as the best type of investment 'insurance' one can have, bar none. Traditional Chinese parents would worry about an adult child who didn't own their own domicile.
Yes, you really got at the essence of it, especially the bolded.
I just recently hit 500k (well that was Friday; markets are down today ). I could definitely retire on it if I moved outside my high cost area.
Good for you! Wish I were there right now, but am going to be patient and ride out this next 3-4 years until I get there. Of course, if the markets want to go bat*** crazy in a good way and get me there a whole lot faster I'm okay with that, too!
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). I could definitely retire on it if I moved outside my high cost area.
